Category Archives: Australia news

Hundreds of Aboriginal children likely buried in unmarked graves at three WA missions

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Exclusive: More than 740 First Nations people, the majority of them very young, are believed to have been buried with no record at Moore River, Carrolup and New Norcia

As many as 400 Aboriginal children and babies are likely to have been buried in unmarked graves at three former Western Australian missions, the vast majority of them interred after dying when five or under, a Guardian Australia investigation can reveal.

Spanning decades, more than 740 First Nations people, the majority of them very young, were most likely buried with no record at just three church and government-run missions in the state: Moore River, Carrolup and New Norcia.

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Will she stay or go? Annastacia Palaszczuk returns to slow-motion leadership turmoil

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Despite growing discontent and sagging poll numbers, Queensland Labor’s leadership will probably only change if the premier resigns – or deputy Steven Miles mounts a challenge

Twenty-four hours is supposed to be a long time in politics. But the past fortnight in Queensland has felt like watching the continents drift apart.

Annastacia Palaszczuk returns from leave on Monday to confront the first serious threat to her leadership since 2012, when she took the wheel of a Labor opposition that could fit comfortably inside a Toyota Tarago.

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Tanya Plibersek announced swift parrot plan without showing recovery team who helped develop it

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Conservation groups say plan contains no meaningful action to address bird’s key threat of native forest logging

The swift parrot recovery plan announced by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, to mark threatened species day was not actually finalised and had not been shared with the experts who helped to develop it.

Once they had seen it, conservation groups and scientists said the recovery plan released on Thursday contained no meaningful action to address the key threat to the survival of the species: the logging of native forests.

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Keilor shooting: man killed at Melbourne cafe in organised crime attack

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Victoria police believe a shooting in the city’s north-west that left a man dead and another injured was targeted

Police in Melbourne have launched an investigation after a fatal shooting in the suburb of Keilor in the city’s north-west.

The man killed is yet to be formally identified.Officers say the shooting appears to have been targeted.

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Nationals leader David Littleproud stands by net zero target amid internal push to ditch it

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Comments come as party’s national conference considers Barnaby Joyce-aligned motion to abolish 2050 goal

The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has said the party should not abandon a commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 despite an internal push to dump the target.

Speaking at the party’s annual conference in Canberra on Saturday, he said “the last decision that our party room made was to support net zero and proudly”.

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Melbourne crash: Daniel Andrews says no additional safety measures possible for CBD mall

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Police insist city is ‘tremendously safe’ following Friday night crash at same Bourke Street mall where six people were killed in 2017

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has said there were no feasible safety measures that could have prevented the fatal crash in Melbourne’s CBD on Friday night, as police assure residents the city is “tremendously safe.”

Police say a white Toyota Aurion struck three pedestrians near a tram stop on Bourke Street on Friday evening, before it continued along the street, T-boning another car and killing the 76-year-old driver.

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Home affairs under Peter Dutton was warned ‘failing’ immigration detention may have breached duty of care

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Exclusive: 2020 report told of risk to detainees’ health from indefinite detention and sending ‘prison hardened’ cohort into system

Peter Dutton’s home affairs department was warned that immigration detention was “failing” by an independent review but options to reduce reliance on detention were “not progressed”.

The report by the former secretary of the attorney general’s department, Robert Cornall, found that visa cancellations sent “prison hardened detainees” into immigration detention and warned this may breach the Australian government’s duty of care to other detainees including asylum seekers.

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Richard Goyder is sticking with Qantas after Alan Joyce’s exit. But how many board positions is too many?

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The chair of Qantas also holds positions at Woodside, the AFL, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Channel Seven Telethon Trust, raising questions of how much is too much

Richard Goyder has vowed to remain as the chairman of Qantas despite questions about the airline’s corporate behaviour and a potentially damaging court case over allegations it sold tickets for thousands of already cancelled flights.

But the veteran business leader holds five chairmanships – including at Qantas, Woodside and the AFL – prompting questions from governance experts over how much is too much.

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Top Indigenous academic quits University of Melbourne law school role and alleges institutional racism

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Resignation of associate dean Dr Eddie Cubillo comes after he delivered speech on his encounters with racism at Melbourne Law School

A leading academic at the University of Melbourne (UoM) has resigned from his role heading Indigenous programs after public complaints over institutional racism at the faculty.

Dr Eddie Cubillo, a Larrakia, Wadjigan and Central Arrernte man, was working part-time as an associate dean and senior fellow at the university’s prestigious Melbourne Law School (MLS).

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Dymocks warns customer records may be on dark web after possible data breach

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Bookseller’s managing director says potential hack was detected on Wednesday and investigation has been launched

Bookstore chain Dymocks has warned customers of a possible data breach that could lead to their personal information being leaked on the dark web.

In an email sent to members on Friday, the bookseller’s managing director, Mark Newman, said a potential hack was detected two days earlier.

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Services Australia apologises to staff over ‘unfair toll’ of robodebt

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Agency’s chief executive says Centrelink staff acted in ‘good faith’, following damning royal commission findings

Services Australia staff have received an apology from management over the robodebt scandal, with the agency’s chief executive saying that workers who enforced the scheme had suffered an “unfair toll”.

In a video message sent to staff on Friday afternoon, the Services Australia chief executive, Rebecca Skinner, praised staff who had spoken up about the unlawful income averaging scheme – which was the subject of a damning royal commission this year.

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Albanese’s China trip suggests a smoother relationship rather than a cosy one

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A key calculation of the Australian PM’s team is that dialogue is of value, even if both sides agree to disagree

In a far cry from Henry Kissinger’s secret trips to China in the 1970s, Anthony Albanese’s planned travel to the country has been an open secret for months.

Still, the Australian prime minister’s confirmation this week that he had accepted an invitation to fly to Beijing is another key step in his government’s efforts to “stabilise” a relationship that hit rock bottom in 2020.

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Welcome to ‘the robot soundscape’: Australia’s music industry braces for the rise of music AI

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The spectre of intelligent technologies is looming over Australian artists, and dominating the chatter at Brisbane’s Bigsound music conference

Music conferences tend to follow a similar format: showcases of up-and-coming artists, panels about the business, and behind-the-scenes deals. But between the events and around the corridors of this year’s Bigsound in Brisbane, Australia, there was one topic dominating conversation: how AI was threatening the industry.

Musicians and composers are fascinated by – and terrified of – artificial intelligence, which has the potential to both help artists create, and steal their work. AI is already starting to weave into the everyday soundtracks of our lives, from a new track by the Beatles to Spotify’s “AI DJ”. It’s a new reality that scholars such as Oliver Bown from the University of New South Wales call “the robot soundscape”.

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Jason Roberts sues Victoria after being wrongfully jailed for police killings

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Roberts seeks damages from the state for the 5,627 days he spent behind bars after winning retrial in court of appeal and being cleared by a new jury

For decades Jason Roberts was branded as a double police killer.

But after winning a retrial through Victoria’s court of appeal and a second jury found him not guilty, he’s now fighting for compensation.

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Jacinta Nampijinpa Price declines to back Peter Dutton’s plan for second referendum

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Opposition leader has called for recognition referendum if yes vote fails, but shadow Indigenous Australians minister says ‘further discussion’ needed

Peter Dutton’s own Indigenous affairs spokesperson has declined to back his plan for a second referendum if the October vote fails, throwing the opposition leader’s alternative to the voice into disarray.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians and leader of the no campaign, declined numerous opportunities to support Dutton’s plan for another referendum on symbolic constitutional recognition, saying there would need to be “further discussions” before she would back the plan.

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Seatbelt camera glitch: hundreds of Queensland drivers had licences taken away by mistake

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Design fault blamed for drivers, who were caught with a passenger breaking seatbelt laws, being issued double demerit points

A design fault in Queensland’s mobile phone and seatbelt cameras led to almost 2,000 people being incorrectly fined and more than 600 drivers losing their licence.

Transport minister Mark Bailey said he was made aware of the issue on Wednesday, with his department requesting urgent legal advice.

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Marise Payne to quit parliament – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

The Bureau of Meteorology is urging people in western Sydney, southern and central ranges and the Hunter region to tidy up loose items around their yards as damaging winds are extending over the areas today.

Gusty storms may hit Sydney and the Central Coast today, while there are possible severe storms heading to the Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast this afternoon, with a risk of damaging winds and large hail, the BoM says.

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Australian Antarctic Division accused of hampering Senate investigation into research cuts

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Two climate scientists who recently left division tell inquiry former colleagues have been ‘directed to remain quiet’

Two long-term climate scientists have alleged staff at the Australian Antarctic Division have been told not to pass information to a Senate investigation into climate research cuts, drawing a warning from senators.

Dr Simon Wright and Dr Andrew Davidson, who both spent decades studying the impacts of climate change with the division, have told the inquiry that budget pressures are “devastating” and will have a long-term impact on research.

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Peter Dutton rejects Nationals push to overturn commitment to net zero

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Liberal leader says Coalition ‘committed’ to policy after Barnaby Joyce labelled its cost ‘utterly untenable’

Peter Dutton has rejected a push within the Nationals to overturn the commitment to net zero by 2050, warning the Coalition “won’t be departing” from the policy after Barnaby Joyce labelled the cost “utterly untenable”.

The Liberal leader told Radio National on Friday he was not concerned by Joyce’s intervention because there is “strong support for net zero” within the Coalition for the policy he had “recommitted to”.

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Teenager charged over attack on boy walking home from school in south-east Melbourne

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A Frankston boy, 14, was charged with offences including armed robbery and intentionally causing serious injury

A teenager has been charged over a violent attack in Melbourne on a boy walking home from school that left him with life-threatening injuries.

The 14-year-old was confronted by a group as he left Glen Eira College in Glen Huntly on Monday afternoon.

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